Brand Management: Research, theory and practice

The relational approach has some very profound consequences for the future
development of the scientific discipline of brand management. It is a clear indi-
cator of a paradigmatic shift for three reasons: it implies a shift towards quali-
tative methods, it is meaning-based, and it emphasizes understanding of the life
worlds of consumers rather than measuring the mere brand–consumer transac-
tions. In that way it opens the way to the further development of the discipline
embodied in the two approaches to come: the community approach and the
cultural approach.

Comments from the ‘founding fathers’ (4)

The value of the relationship approach to the study and management

of brands

Susan Fournier, Boston University School of Management

Nearly twenty years ago I was promoted to Vice-president of

Consumer–Brand Relationships at Young & Rubicam, an advertising

agency in New York. The position was my idea: a translation of the revolu-

tionary B2B relationship marketing paradigm into the B2C world. I quit two

weeks later on the heels of a stark realization that the frameworks and

concepts I would need to execute my position had yet to be created. So off I

went to the University of Florida to pursue the development of

consumer–brand relationship theory in consumer research.

Theory

Managerial

implications

Assumptions

Methods and data

Figure 8.7Managerial implications of the relational approach

176 Seven brand approaches